Estimated Time to Fix: 3 minutes

Summary

If you join a video call or try to watch a streaming video, and the video area is completely black but you can still hear the audio perfectly, the issue is almost always caused by a feature called "Hardware Acceleration." This article explains how to turn it off.

Symptoms

• In Zoom or Teams, you can hear people talking, but their camera feeds are solid black rectangles.
• When watching YouTube or Netflix in a browser, the video player is black, but the audio plays.
• When you share your screen on a call, others report that they only see a black box.

Before You Start

• None required.

Instructions

1. Disable Hardware Acceleration in Web Browsers (Chrome & Edge)

Hardware acceleration hands video to the graphics chip, and a mismatched driver turns that video black.

If the black screen happens when using web-based apps or streaming sites:

1. Open your browser (Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge).
2. Click the three dots (...) in the top right corner and select Settings.
3. In the left sidebar, click System and performance (in Edge) or System (in Chrome).
4. Find the setting labeled Use graphics acceleration when available (or Use hardware acceleration when available).
5. Turn the toggle switch Off.
6. Click the Relaunch or Restart button that appears next to the toggle. The browser will restart, and the videos should now display correctly.

The desktop apps keep their own copy of this setting, so pick the one you are calling from: Zoom is Step 2 and Microsoft Teams is Step 3, while any call or video watched in a browser tab is covered by this step.

2. Disable Hardware Acceleration in Zoom

Zoom keeps its own acceleration settings, separate from the browser and from Windows.

If the black screen happens specifically in the Zoom desktop app:

1. Open the Zoom app on your computer.
2. Click your profile picture or initials in the top right corner, then select Settings.
3. Click on the Video tab on the left.
4. Click the Advanced button at the bottom right.
5. Uncheck the boxes for Use hardware acceleration for receiving video and Use hardware acceleration for sending video.
6. Close the settings window and restart Zoom.

3. Disable Hardware Acceleration in Microsoft Teams

Teams has the same setting again under its own name, and it needs a full restart to take effect.

If the black screen happens in the classic Microsoft Teams desktop app:

1. Open Microsoft Teams.
2. Click the three dots (...) next to your profile picture at the top right, and select Settings.
3. On the General tab, scroll down to the "Application" section.
4. Check the box that says Disable GPU hardware acceleration (requires restarting Teams).
5. Close the settings window.
6. Right-click the Teams icon in your Windows taskbar (near the clock) and select Quit.
7. Reopen Teams.

Troubleshooting

TIP

Hardware acceleration tells an application to use your computer's graphics card (GPU) instead of its main processor (CPU) to render video. While this usually improves performance, outdated graphics drivers can cause the GPU to render a black screen instead.

Symptom / Error	Potential Cause	Solution
Black screen persists after disabling acceleration	Outdated Graphics Drivers	Your computer needs a driver update. Go to Settings > Windows Update > Advanced options > Optional updates and install any driver updates listed.
Only your own camera is black	Privacy Cover or Permissions	Check that your laptop's physical webcam shutter is open. In Windows, go to Settings > Privacy & security > Camera and ensure apps have permission to use it.

Related Articles

• How to Stop Chrome or Edge from Using Too Much Memory (RAM)
• How to Manage Site Camera and Microphone Permissions

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